PMD: Idipola
by ElicordeThePix
Summary: (NOTE: Takes place years after the events of Super Mystery Dungeon.) An Alolan Vulpix wakes up alone and confused in the middle of a dense forest - she remembers nothing. When she meets an odd-looking bunny on a nearby path, he offers to take her to his hometown, where an adventure of regional proportions begins in the region of Idipola!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

_Unknown forest_

The small white fox who laid curled up on the ground groaned as she seemed to slowly wake, whimpering as she tried to pull herself up on sore legs. Trying to remember who and where she was, or really anything at all, the Alolan Vulpix drew only blanks. Trying to look around, she found herself dazed and confused. She couldn't find her sense of direction. Her sight spun and blurred into a sickening blend of green, brown, and what bright light breached the canopy above.

Once her eyesight became a little more clear and she could actually tell where she was going, the Vulpix tried to go through the idly waving shrubbery to what she could hardly make out as some kind of path. Her legs felt vastly unfamiliar and thus caused her to stumble and walk with an odd, unhealthy-looking gait like a newly born infant. Making it onto the dirt path after much more time than conceivably necessary, she rested against a large tree standing stoically in the surrounding army of similar plants. She remained there for hours, somehow surprised she wasn't shivering in the cold winds, when a rather distinct voice broke her trance.

"H-hey, there, a-are you alright…?"

The voice was definitely boyish, though the small fox would never call it masculine. She craned her bluntly aching neck to look back at the speaker - he was some kind of rabbit, white with a dash of orange on his ears, feet, eyes...she would say he was cute.

"M-miss?"

Remembering she was being spoken to, the Vulpix tried to speak. For a moment, nothing came out of her moving mouth, but after a moment a weak yet squeaky voice manifested off of her tongue like a thirty year old mute suddenly gaining the ability of speech.

"I...ah...dunnno…." She stumbled over her words, like she had been everything else.

"You, uh, don't look so good…" The bunny mumbled, his face tinged slightly pink. The girl didn't know why. "W-why don't you come with me to Novitae Village?"

"Noo...Novitae?" She reflexively cocked her head, showing her own confusion. "I..I….w-where am I..? I...I can't remember anything.."

"Huh…?" The lagomorph stared at her for a second, visibly surprised. There was something of a twinkle in his eye, a little star...curiosity? "You don't…" He bites his lip for a moment, looking off through his peripheral vision. "Not...not even your name?"

She hesitates for a few moments, reaching into her mind but grasping nothing in a pit of inky black. "N-no…"

"Well," the boy seems to force out the next words, stuttering out what should have been cocky words, "I-I'm Otto, b-best Scorbunny in Idipola!" He seems to remember who he's talking to. "Oh, uh...that's the region we're in, by the way."

"Idipola…? U-um, okay…"

"S-say, uh, we should figure out something to call ya….hmmm….how aboout.."

The fox waited awkwardly for the next few minutes while he stuffed random words together under his breath.

"Uhhh...Ellie...cord….Elicorde? How's that sound?" He suddenly beams, despite having taken seven minutes to come up with something. Nevertheless, she finds it a pretty name.

"I..I l like it." Elicorde manages a smile, glad she met this...Scorbunny? Yeah, Scorbunny. "S-so...where is this Nov...Nov-i-dy….?"

Otto giggles at her attempts to pronounce the place's name. "Hehe….it's Novitae, silly! Nah-vi-tay!"

Elicorde's face reddens, embarrassed at her mistake.

"O-oh…" She takes a few minutes to practice saying it, but when she manages it she seems awfully proud. The Scorbunny grinned, his rounded buck teeth prominent.

However, his face soon turns from some sort of joyful to surprise; Elicorde can only guess that it's the soft drops of water hitting her head. Within a few minutes, the ground was being drummed almost rhythmically with precipitation…

"U-uh, Ellie, we really should go."

She nods rather unconsciously, moving away from the tree to follow Otto. She falls over within a few steps with a small grunt.

The lagomorph turns back, surprised and then worried. He rushes to his new friend's side and helps her up.

"O-oh, s-sorry, I-I, u-uh…" Otto seems to have no knowledge of how to convey his words. Sighing, he helps a protesting Elicorde up, awkwardly walking her towards his home.

The Vulpix eventually silences herself, already busy wondering what Novitae Village is going to be like…

* * *

Thank you for reading the first paragraph of my first posted story! I know it's short, but I wanted to see what people thought of my story before actively trying to make it longer. All reviews are welcome, so long as the critique can be used to improve my writing!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_Novitae Village_

It wasn't a very long walk to Otto's hometown. From wherever Elicorde had met him to Novitae, it had only been about thirty minutes. Yet, her condition seemed to vastly improve over that time; namely, she was no longer stumbling and her voice seemed steadier. As for her memory, there wasn't much change.

As they approached the small community, she was able to see most of the buildings - Novitae seemed to consist mostly of primitive-looking huts and the occasional cabin. Not to mention the small farms nearby most homes, though they were more akin to enlarged gardens.

"Ellie?"

Elicorde nearly jumped out of her pelt, causing Otto to giggle. She glared at him, huffing a bit. Like a bull in a cartoon, her breath was visible (despite being more baby blue than gray.)

Otto grinned at her. "Heh...you okay, Ellie? You sure like to zone out!"

"Ollie.."

"Otto."

"_Otto, _I'm fine." She grumbled, her eyes half shut.

"Ya sure?" Before she could answer, Otto changed the subject. "Anyway, erm, there's someone I gotta talk to about you, so is it okay if I just leave you in the infirmary..?"

"Huh?" Ellie blinked, already wondering who he was going to be speaking to. There wasn't anything dangerous about this place, was there? No, no, there couldn't be...she was overthinking this. She had to be. "No, no...I don't mind at all."

Otto seemed to doubt her, but if he did he didn't say anything about it. "Right...well, it's this way." He mumbled, the orange tips of his ears drooping a bit. As he turned around, she noticed the shoes on his feet - an odd detail to her when none of the few Pokemon she could see around town, including herself, wore anything at all save maybe a bag. She didn't say anything for fear of making herself look like a fool, but she still found it funny watching those long paws walk somewhat awkwardly in a leather prison.

**. . .**

The infirmary seemed to be just another one of the huts, sans a little garden-farm. It had several beds in it, arranged in a circle against the walls beginning on one side of the door and ending on the other side. In the middle was a little table, at present clear of items. Elicorde looked around, wondering who was in charge of this place.

"Erm, we don't have a doctor or a nurse like the other towns," Otto piped up, as if having read her mind, "we kinda just send Sammy to get the doctor from Terraport." When Ellie didn't seem to know who Sammy was, he continued. "Oh, Sammy works in the mail place, by the way. He's the Fletchling - the Mienfoo is Millie."

"Okay, then." She replied, not knowing how much more to say to the information other than an expression of gratitude. "...Thanks?"

"Heh...anyway, I gotta get going! Seeya in a few minutes!" Posing with his front paws (or hands, she couldn't tell what to call them) on his hips, he gave her a smile and then dashed off out of the infirmary.

"Well…" She was going to be sitting in her for some time, so… why not explore a little? Elicorde began to look around the room for anything of interest, even in the places where one really wouldn't expect to find anything. She lifted the pillows and tried to lift the mattresses with little success. Eventually, she found something under a bed. Blowing a bit of chilly air in surprise, she batted it out from under the bed and looked over it.

The object in question was a little black box, the lid secured by some kind of lock. Deeply curious what this box was and what was in it, she began trying to open it. She tried unsuccessfully to open it by wriggling a claw around in the little hole or trying to break it on the floor. Sighing, she finally decided to just inspect it for any notable details; she would have to find a key if she wanted to open it.

Elicorde was shocked to find a little slot near the top of the side opposite the lock. The slot was too thin to fit most objects in, and was just narrower than the width of the box itself….what was it for?

Before she could figure out much more, she was startled by the sound of the door opening and instinctively threw her paws up as if to protect her head. Between her paws, she could see a Meowth enter the infirmary, Otto trailing behind him. She forced herself to lower her paws.

"Hello, young mi- hm?" The Meowth had started to speak, interrupting himself as he noticed the box in her paws. He quickly picked it up, smiling at her. "Ah, I've been looking for this! Thank you for finding it, miss…?"

"...Elicorde?" Her tails were low to the ground, as if trying to get between her hind legs but unable to get between the floor and her rump.

"Ah, thank you, miss Elicorde," the Meowth stuffed the box into his bag, which had only a single strap slung around the opposite shoulder, "I'm Mayor Frederick, and I would like to welcome you to Novitae Village!"

Ellie wondered why Otto was just standing behind him, idly tapping his foot and looking around.

"I can't think of any better way to start your time here than with a tour of our peaceful little community - what do you think, Otto?"

"Huh-?" Otto seemed surprised, as if he wasn't paying attention. "Of course, Mayor! Why don't I show her around?" He appears to be excited, standing on his toes and grinning.

"Well, that was the plan, seeing how you two already seem to be getting along so well."

"Thanks, Mayor!" Otto grabbed Elicorde by the scruff, pulling a surprised Vulpix out of the infirmary before Mayor Frederick could get off another word.

**. . .**

As the pair arrived at their first destination, Elicorde was already rubbing the area where Otto had pulled her - with how fast he ran, her scruff was quite sore. She wouldn't be surprised if she was missing a few furs. The building they had stopped at first was a brick building about as large as the typical house - the only structure of it's kind to be found. A sign hanging above the door depicted an envelope with the words 'Idipolan Regional Mail Centre' on it.

"This is the mail place." Otto stated, unsurprisingly not sounding very excited to talk about it. "It's where we get our mail, obviously, but since most of the mail that comes in is just relatives who moved away, it isn't that busy. I think most of Sammy's work is just flying out to get Dr. Francisca when people get sick."

"Why's a building like this in Novitae?" Ellie was curious; an official-sounding and official-looking place like this just seemed rather out of place.

"I...I dunno. I think Sammy said something about wanting to connect Novitae to the rest of Idipola? I mean, he moved here from Terraport so he probably has a bit more money to pay for construction and stuff like that…"

Ellie decided that she'd have to ask someone who actually worked there at some point.

"Anyway, let's move on!"

The next place they moved on to was a little more standard: a wooden stand with 'KECLEON SHOP' painted on the front. Behind it was a female Kecleon, writing or drawing something on a notebook.

"Th-"

"Oh!" The Kecleon jolted as soon as Otto began to speak, stowing away the notebook and leaning on the stand. "Hey, Otto and...well, I don't think I've seen you around here before, dear! What's your name?"

Elicorde told her, stuttering a bit.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Elicorde! Though, are ya sure we haven't met before? You seem awful familiar…"

Elicorde was silent for a moment or two, trying to decide what to say. She was fairly certain she didn't recall meeting this lady. Of course, she didn't recall much of anything.

"I'm... pretty sure we haven't?"

"Hmm...must just be imaginin' things, then. Anyway, welcome to the Kecleon Shop! I take it you're hoping to browse our wares? We've got berries half off~"

"No, thanks, miss, I don't have any money." Ellie mumbled, looking down at her paws a bit.

"Well, that's alright, dear!" The Kecleon smiled at her. "Just come back when you've got Poké to spend!"

The pair thanked her and moved on to the next stop. The next area was a pair of structures, a cabin with a large window up front and what looked like a fighting ring minus the ropes. The cabin's front window had a sign on it saying **'Closed - Spooks is out!' **

"Oh, Spooks is the Mimikyu who runs Sectore Storage," Otto explained before Ellie could really ask anything - she was starting to get a little irritated with always being interrupted. "Sectore's just the place where you can give Spooks the money and stuff ya don't want to lose, and he'll keep them safe! And that," he pointed to the ring, "is Difficitium Dojo. It's usually ran by a Throh named Lee, but I guess he and Spooks went out for a bit. You can practice battling on it, but most folk don't really use it that much so Lee takes a lot of breaks."

"Right...is that all?" Ellie's legs were beginning to hurt; she needed to lay down for a bit.

"Almost! We've got one last place left!" Otto grinned, quite oblivious as he dragged her off once more to the last notable building.

**. . .**

The Novitae Village School was another reasonably sized - actually quite large - wooden building, rather nondescript other than the few glassless windows and a sign above the door telling you what the place was.

"This is the school!" Otto began, thankfully for the last time. "It's, well, where ya go to learn stuff. Mr. Aster is also a really great teacher, and we've got balls and frisbees and stuff for recess!"

"Okay, should we go talk to him then?" Elicorde found herself a bit reluctant toward the idea, but of course she had been a bit reluctant to talk to anybody.

"Well, duh! We gotta get you a spot on the roll call list, after all!" Otto ran off ahead, apparently forgetting to grab Ellie this time. She padded in after him despite the strong urge to turn back and not have to do this.

The inside of the school was rather typical, with the teacher's desk and the chalkboard being at the front of the room and the rest of the class being occupied by an arrangement of desks and chairs. Otto was already greeting the Meowstic at the desk. The Meowstic was still here, so class had probably ended maybe less than an hour ago…but then why was Otto out in the woods where he met Ellie?

"..and here she is now!" She heard her friend exclaim, Otto pointing at her. "This is Elicorde!"

The Meowstic smiled, despite the mild bags under his eyes and the uncharacteristically slow movements for such a small body.

"It's nice to meet you, Elicorde," he says as he gets some piece of paper out, "I'm Mr. Aster. I'll be your teacher for the year…" He yawned, marking something down on the paper. "Your name's spelled E-l-i-c-o-r-d-e, right?"

Elicorde squeaked out something of an affirmative answer.

Mr. Aster nodded, then put the paper back. "Welcome to Novitae Village, Elicorde. Now, if you'll excuse me, children, I really have to get home-"

"What?!" Otto stepped in front of him, hopping up and down despite being the taller one. "Aren't you gonna tell her about class? What about recess and the games?!" Ellie could have sworn there was smoke coming from his shoes…

"Calm down, Otto, your shoes are going to catch fire again."

Catch fire? How could he talk about that like it was such a normal occurrence?

"But-!"

"Please, just let me go home." Mr. Aster pushed past the annoyed Otto and left. He was walking oddly, but Elicorde was hesitant to liken it to shambling. Otto sputtered, stamping his feet a few more times - thankfully, this put out the small fire which had started on the toe much to Ellie's relief.

"Gggh…come on, Ellie, let's just go ho...to my house." He mumbled, stalking out the door with her following behind him. Her own head was filled with confusion as she tried to process the brief yet unexpected incident and residual terror due to the fact that she _just saw her friend's foot catch fire. _

**. . .**

As they approached the small farmhouse Otto called home, Ellie's mind cleared up enough to ask about the one thing on her mind.

"Hey Otto?"

"Yeah?" His ears perked up a bit.

"Um...why did your feet catch on fire back at the school?"

"Oh, that? It's...uh...just something that happens when I get excited or mad or somethin'. I don't know why." He shrugged, and knocked on the door.

A large Diggersby opened the door, the portly bunny looking down at them.

"Hm? Who's this, Otto?" His voice was shockingly gruff for someone related to Otto. Elicorde shrunk away under that suspicious gaze. Otto, on the other hand, was not intimidated.

"Oh, it's my new friend Elicorde! I found her in the woods all alone, and she-"

"In the- You took her to the Infirmary, right?"

"Well, duh! And I was hoping maybe you'd let her stay with us, c-"

"Otto, you have enough trouble paying attention to your work already, why would I let a girl stay around to distract you even more?"

Elicorde just looked down at her paws, unsure if she should say or do anything. Otto seemed to be getting a little irritated, though she couldn't tell if it was because he kept getting interrupted or what.

"Papa, she doesn't have anywhere else to go! We can't just let her go without a place to stay!"

"Otto-" The Diggersby groaned, a hand over his face. "Arceus...fine. She can stay, but she's going to help on the farm. Ya got that, missy?"

Reluctant to speak, Elicorde just nodded.

"Good. You can sleep in Otto's room." He sighed, turning to head back inside. "Don't make me regret it."

Otto grinned at this, not seeming to care about the last sentence.

"Thanks, Papa!" He turned to Ellie, bouncing again but now for joy. "We get to be roommates! Whoo!"

Ellie smiled softly, unable to stop herself from giggling at his enthusiasm. "And thank goodness for that," she said, already heading inside, "cause my legs are about to give out~"

She was already trotting towards the room Otto pointed out as his, ready to go to bed, by the time he said something else.

"Hey, Papa? When's the next Drawing?"

* * *

Thank you for reading PMD: Idipola, and another thank you to everyone who posted a review! I'm definitely proud of the length of this chapter, though I feel the tour may have been a little drawn on.

I noticed when reading over my first chapter again that I called it the first paragraph in the AN, and I feel like I should mention that I meant to say 'chapter' before somebody lambasts me for it.

I apologize for the length of time it took to get this chapter posted, and I'm grateful to those of you who continue to follow this story. As always, reviews are appreciated! (I tried implementing most of what I was told in the first chapter's reviews, but I'm not sure if I did a good job.)

Have a nice day!

P.S. If you do leave a review, I kind of want to know what you think of the characters so that I can get a better idea of how to develop them. This is, of course, optional, but it would be helpful!


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